The Senate Finance Committee voted down a public option amendment to the Baucus bill today.
Max Baucus (D-MT) authored the finance committee bill, which contains no public option but requires all Americans to purchase health insurance from private insurance companies and offers some financial assistance to some people to enable them to do so. Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) offered an amendment to create a public plan option, to give us the choice to buy public insurance from a government plan if we wanted to buy it.
Every Republican on the committee voted against the public option: Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Orrin Hatch(R-UT), Olympia Snowe (R-ME), Jon Kyl (R-AZ), Jim Bunning (R-KY), Mike Crapo (R-ID), Pat Roberts (R-KS), John Ensign (R-NV), Mike Enzi (R-WY) and John Cornyn (R-TX).
The following Democrats also voted against giving us the choice of a public option for our healthcare and for requiring us to give money to private insurance companies: Max Baucus (D-MT), Kent Conrad (D-ND), Blanche Lincoln (D-AR) and Bill Nelson (D-FL). Democrats voting against the public option did this to protect the interests of private insurance companies who they fear will lose money if we have the choice to pick a public option over a for-profit insurance company.
Fear of loss of profits is fear of competition. The Baucus bill is protectionism of a powerful, bloated industry that preys on the American people and buys Senators to protect its profits. If their product is so good, and we've been hearing non-stop squealing from conservative Republicans that our "system" is the best in the world and nothing else can compare to it, then the health industry has nothing to fear, Americans will buy their product. If it isn't so good, don't we have the right to choose whether or not to buy it? What is less "American", less free - the right to make a choice for ourselves in the market or being forced to buy by law? I would personally prefer to have a Federal employee "between" me and my doctor than a health insurance company which pays its CEO $3million plus, sends its people to party in the Carribbean, defrauds medicare, refuses care to cancer patients and pays its stockholders before paying for my care between me and my doctor.
Members of the Finance Committee together received more than $13,000.00 in donations from the health care industry. Baucus himself has received more than $3Million and ranks as the fourth highest recipient of Big Pharma contributions. (http://www.opensecrets.org/news/2009/06/baucusled-coalition-receives-h.html)
"It is not just the chairman of the committee who has received massive donations. The full Finance Committee is a gluttonous embarrassment of campaign pay-offs. In 2008 the committee members received a total of $13,263,986 from industries affected by health care reform. Can we trust this committee to put the interests of the people before their donors?". (Kevin Zeese, Baltimore Chronicle, 31 May 2009, http://www.baltimorechronicle.com/2009/053109Zeese.shtml)
In addition to receiving piles of health industry money, Baucus runs an office stuffed with former health lobbyists and many of his former staff have gone on to lucrative careers in the health industry.
Baucus is NOT about saving the US any money. Without a public option, this bill is budgeted by him to cost about $900Billion, that's $900Billion of our tax money promised by Baucus to private, for-profit health insurance companies. In addition, Baucus created a provision that proposes FINES for individuals and families who don't buy their insurance, despite the President explicitly stating that no reform plan could include either fines or a requirement that people must buy insurance. Baucus' plan was leaked to the press Tuesday before it was seen at the White House. (Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar, AP, Sep 29, 2009, http://www.kcby.com/home/related/57816717.html)Baucus was also responsible for legislation the prevents the federal government from dickering for drug prices with Big Pharma - that's right, Baucus made sure that we all have to pay MORE for federal drug costs to protect pharmaceutical profits, that we have to pay whatever they tell us it costs.
During the committee hearings, Baucus blatantly refused to allow single-payer advocates to appear before the committee or permit any testimony on the possibility of a single-payer system, despite the fact that many Americans want and request a single-payer system.
Of course, we'd all have liked to have had a look at the bill before the finance committee served it up, unfortunately Baucus refused to make it available online, he said it would take too long.
The Baucus bill is such a complete disaster, I'd call it an act of treason. Baucus has betrayed and embarrassed his own party and the President, betrayed his constituents and the American people. He promised to sell the health and future of the American people to the private health industry, mainly insurance companies and drug companies. The Baucus requires us all to make them rich at our expense and the expense of our children. It is not a health bill, it is not a reform in any way, it is TREASON.
